October 11, 2012 AT 11:59 pm

GE Garages’ Making Things Party at STORY

Had a great time meeting with other presenters and guests for the Launch Party for the “Making Things” series, GE Garages‘ month at STORY in the Chelsea Arts District in NYC. It was a real treat talking to engineering and design heavyweights Nina Tandon, Catarina Mota, Corrie Van Sice, and Manca Ahlin about biohacking, open hardware, 3D designs, and lamps, while the four of them celebrated their pleasure watching product shots and videos at Adafruit that have Limor or Becky’s painted nails in the corners of them: what a great message that is to young hotshot female engineers just getting started.

I also spent some time talking with Rich and Peter of Brooklyn-based Industrial City Distillery, hardcore makers themselves. Rich, who designs the custom-built distillery’s automation, was thrilled to see someone from Adafruit at the party. He shared about his use of Arduinos and other Adafruit supplies to reinvent how they are distilling high-grade vodka from sugar beets, going from setup to on-shelves in less than a year. (Check out this awesome video!)

I have posted my Skillshare signup for my workshop on October 21st, and already the 30 slots are starting to fill up. I shared with a few other presenters tonight what I have in mind for the activity, but I’m going to keep quiet about this secret 3D printing + electronics project here on the blog until I offer a sneak preview during the Adafruit “Show and Tell” episode on October 20th.